Helicopters and other aircraft preferably land on flat, hard and even surfaces.
For vertical landing and short landing of manned aircraft, pilots typically rely on visual information from the external environment to select an appropriate location for landing. For manned or unmanned aircraft, optical sensors and other sensors may be used to assess the suitability of terrain prior to landing on the terrain. For autonomous aircraft, optical sensors are typically relied upon for selecting an appropriate location for landing. Although pilots and sensors may visually assess these surfaces, some obstacles may remain undetected or undetectable by the pilot or by conventional sets of sensors. These obstacles present challenges when assessing suitability of some types of terrain for landing. Also, visual cues and conventional sensors may not be accurate enough to assess the stability of the landing zone.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development in the field of aircraft landing systems and methods for monitoring a landing of an aircraft.